Process and timing

Death of the investor

Also called Deceased investor, 8 CFR 216.6(a)(6).

Death of the investor during the two year conditional residence does not end the family's case: 8 CFR 216.6(a)(6) keeps the surviving spouse and children eligible for removal of conditions, so long as they show the same investment, sustainment and job creation evidence the investor would have had to show.

What it decides

The rule is narrow and exact. If an investor dies during the prescribed two year period of conditional permanent residence, the spouse and children are eligible for removal of conditions where the conditions in 8 CFR 216.6(a)(4) are demonstrated to have been met, which means evidence that the capital was invested, that it was sustained, and that ten full-time jobs for qualifying employees were created or can be expected within a reasonable time. Filing changes as well. Ordinarily a spouse and each child not included in the investor's petition must each file their own Form I-829, but 8 CFR 216.6(a)(1)(ii) says that where the investor is deceased they may file separate petitions or may be included in one. A death before the family ever reaches conditional residence falls outside this regulation and under 8 U.S.C. 1154(l) instead, which lets a derivative of a pending or approved employment-based petition have it adjudicated notwithstanding the death, but only where that derivative was residing in the United States when the investor died and still resides there.

Governed by 8 CFR 216.6(a)(6), headed Death of investor and effect on spouse and children, with the evidence requirements at 8 CFR 216.6(a)(4) and the filing rule for a deceased investor at 8 CFR 216.6(a)(1)(ii); 8 U.S.C. 1154(l)(1) and (l)(2)(C) for a death before the family holds conditional residence. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 6, Part G, Chapter 7 on removal of conditions is silent on death of the investor and carries none of this, and the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 left 8 U.S.C. 1186b untouched on the point, so the regulation is the whole of the rule. The regulation is otherwise partly stale against the RIA, so read its sustainment wording alongside the statute rather than as the current sustainment period.

Related terms

Conditional permanent residenceConditional permanent residence is the status an EB-5 investor and their spouse and children hold for the first two years: full lawful permanent residence, evidenced by a Green Card valid for two years, whose conditional basis must be removed on Form I-829 or the status ends.
Removal of conditionsRemoval of conditions is the last EB-5 filing, Form I-829, submitted in the 90 days before the second anniversary of conditional residence, in which the investor shows the required capital was invested and kept invested for the period the law requires and that ten full-time jobs were created or can be expected within a reasonable time.
Form I-829Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status, is the petition an EB-5 conditional permanent resident files in the 90 days before the second anniversary of that status, asking USCIS to confirm the capital was invested and the ten jobs created and to make the green card unconditional.
Derivative beneficiaryA derivative beneficiary is the spouse or unmarried child under 21 of an EB-5 investor who, under 8 U.S.C. 1153(d), takes the same classification, the same order of consideration and the same priority date as the investor without filing a petition of their own.
Ten full-time jobsTen full-time jobs for qualifying employees is the EB-5 job creation requirement: each investor's capital must produce its own ten, which is the number an offering's economic report has to show for every investor it takes in.

Checked against primary sources on 10 August 2026. Back to the glossary